Art by Edward G Robinson, one of Hollywood’s finest gangster actors, turns up in Durrow auction

Amidst the various paintings of aristocrats and hunting dogs in Sheppard's "Legacy of the Big House" sale is a painting by a quite unexpected artist. Still Life of Fruit (€4,000-€6,000) is by Edward G Robinson (1893-1973), who was better known as a Hollywood film star.

He had a glittering career in cinema, most famously playing a gangster in films such as Little Caesar, Double Indemnity and Key Largo.

He was also a major art buyer but, in 1956, sold his collection to the Greek shipping tycoon Stavros Niarchos to raise cash for his divorce settlement with Gladys Robinson. He said,"Paintings never really belong to one of us. If we are fortunate, as I have been, we are allowed at most a lovely time of
custody."

He was also a painter of some talent. The current owner, a private collector in Dublin, received the painting as a gift from another Hollywood star, Debbie Reynolds.